It would be odd to find an organisation which turned its nose up at a process which promised to deliver digital products or platforms that:
This is exactly what Product Thinking offers. But how quickly are businesses taking to this new way of working? And how smoothly is the transition taking place?
In this article, we use the recent research carried out by Code Computerlove in collaboration with EConsultancy to start answering these questions. And we're specifically looking at the results in the context of one of the three key 'pillars' which support Product Thinking; 'Do the right thing'.
That is, aligning what is exactly right from a business perspective with what is 100% right from the consumer's viewpoint. This means there is a sharp focus on long term outcomes‚ not short term deliverables. So it's not just project thinking - where a 'thing' is delivered (hopefully on time and on budget).
But rather, a prioritisation of overall business results. And it's more than simply a process; it's a complete mind set. With 'Do the right thing' defined by human-centred design‚ which insists on the customer's needs being the final word in the decision-making process, not the loudest voice round the board room table.
Our research respondents were split into two groups labelled 'Top Performers' and 'Mainstream'; and it won't be any surprise to learn that the top performing companies were much more likely to putting more innovative ideas about the future shape of business into practice.
However, there was some very clear consensus across all respondents. 97% agreed that focusing on user needs leads to better business outcomes and 77% agreed they should put user needs at the heart of our development. That's where things diverged though. And it became obvious that although many companies thought everything Product Thinking stands for was the way forward, they weren't actually actively following that path.
Because only 1% of mainstream companies agreed strongly that their 'organisation focuses more on long-term goals than short-term targets'‚ a direct opposite of 'Do the right thing'.
In fact, an emphasis on short-term business priorities was given as the reason for around half of all digital projects failing. This contrasts with 68% of top performers actively focusing on increasing the lifetime value of the customers.
Center Parcs is already an extraordinary success story‚ with a 97% occupancy rate every single day of the year! So a few short-term tweaks around the edges wouldn't do: we had to completely get under the skin of their different target audiences to find the insights we'd need to totally overhaul their digital presence.
Taking Product Thinking's need to be 'human-centric' to its furthest, but logical, conclusion, we by-passed traditional research groups and incentivised questionnaires.
Instead, we sent in an undercover team to complete a totally immersive ethnographic study. This helped us understand what their audiences truly wanted‚ not what we assumed they wanted to hear. And this led to us creating:
'Do the right thing' is just one pillar in the complete Product Thinking structured approach to developing digital products and platforms.
If you'd like your own copy of the full Driving digital effectiveness with Product Thinking' research report we've been quoting from, we're happy to send you a copy.
EM Code is a customer experience, digital innovation and AI agency.
We’re a strategic digital partner that delivers breakthrough growth throughout the customer experience (CX).
We achieve this through our industry-renowned services in digital transformation, web development, brand strategy, click rate optimisation (CRO) and UX (user experience).
Our human centric approach underpins every aspect of our work.
A collective of experts in multiple disciplines, we collaborate to distil the complex needs of organisations and end users to engineer solutions that make an impact.
From fast scaling start ups to global brands, we can help you to transform your organisation.
We are an EssenceMediacom North agency.
EssenceMediacom North helps brands to breakthrough in the new communications economy.
Disrupting models of media, EssenceMediacom North accelerates creative and business transformation for its clients roster, including Hillarys, Absolute Collagen, Webuyanycar.com and United Utilities.
The agency delivers breakthrough growth, capabilities, and revenue through the integration of media, creativity, data and technology, combined with its diverse industry-leading expertise.
Equipped with access to the richest data, robust benchmarking and advanced technologies, EssenceMediacom North unlocks new opportunities to deliver truly integrated media solutions for scaling and global brands.
EssenceMediacom North is part of WPP’s media investment group, GroupM
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